1987 Temperature Gauge?

[Shark49]

I just had my head rebuilt and the mechanic thinks that one of the reasons it blew was because my temperature gauge is not reading correctly so i didnt know it was overheating. He said the sending unit is brand new and fine. Fist of all how would I check to see if the gauge is working correctly? If it is bad where do i find a replacement one? Supposedly a new one from toyota dealer is 190 buck whci is ridiculous.

Thanks in advance

Nate

 

[the_dingman]

The first question is weather it's an SR5 or not. Do you have the tach, oil pressure and voltage gauges, or just the spedo, temp and fuel?

If the guage is bad, you can replace just the guage, but it is easier to replace the whole cluster. Deluxe (no tach) clusters go for $30-$50 on eBay, and SR5 clusters usually go for under $100.

If you've got the deluxe cluster, now is a good time to upgrade. I upgraded my '86 I used to have, and it was a piece of cake, all I had to do what change the oil sending unit, and roll the odometer to the correct milage, otherwise, everthing just snaps in.

 

[Shark49]

yes its an sr5

 

[the_dingman]

I would look for a new cluster on eBay and pull the guage from it. You may want to find which contacts on the connectors are for the guage and test them with a multimeter first, just the verify that it is the guage, not the wiring.

 

[Husker Du]

I just changed mine this past weekend 8/18/07. I knew my gage was bad cuz it would stick about half way up and the next morning when the engine was cold I could hit the top of my dash and it would drop back down. I also was very concerned that I might be over heating and not know about it. I paid Toyota there $181.36 and don

 

[fourwd1]

Or just get an aftermarket gauge for $20 or so.